The Harvard Union was formally transferred last night from its giver, Major Henry L. Higginson h.'82, to the University. A number of invited guests and hundreds of graduates and undergraduates of Harvard had filled the living room and the balconies above it when Mr. Charles Francis Adams '56, after a hearty personal tribute to Major Higginson, introduced President Eliot. President Eliot spoke in detail of the purposes of the Union, and of its possibilities in bringing together under conditions of perfect equality all men in the University, of whatever associations and interests. Malcolm Donald '99, following President Eliot, spoke of the Union and its future from the standpoint of the undergraduate. C. Warren '89 read a poem to the Union, and J. H. Hyde '98 spoke of the early growth of the idea for the Club.

Mr. Charles Francis Adams then introduced Major Higginson and Malcolm Donald led the cheering for him.

MAJOR HIGGINSON'S SPEECH.

Mr. President, teachers, graduates and students of Harvard University-friends all.

This house is finished and you all are welcome to its halls. Of its origin and history you have known something, and now will you listen to a few facts about it, and to a few thoughts concerning it, which have come to me during the past summer?

For several years men have dreamed of and striven for such a plan, and thus have laid the foundation for it. Two Harvard professors especially have given it much thought and labour, and a large committee of students, with the help of other teachers and graduates, have threshed out the constitution and selected the books. When the building was set on foot, three graduates at once asked to furnish the house. Mr. James H. Hyde of '98 has given us the library-both fittings and books. Mr. Francis L. Higginson of '63, and Mr. Augustus Hemenway of '75, old and proved friends of the University, have given us the furniture.

These carved panels, these mantel-pieces and coats of arms at either end of the hall as well as the brass wreath in the floor yonder are gifts of various graduates, students, and friends. The bust of John Harvard is the work and the gift of the distinguished sculptor, Mr. Daniel C. French, and the bust of Washington together with the eagle and the staghorns we have from the hands of our great architect.

The chief happiness of this architect seems to lie in the beautification of our College grounds, and with the help of his able lieutenant, a late graduate, he has made this building a labour of love. He has outdone even himself.

Thus you see that our house springs from the imagination and the work of many men, and you may be sure that the work and the joy of building it have gone hand in hand.

It is pleasant to record such an united effort in behalf of Mother Harvard, for she exists only through the constant labour and bounty of her friends. It is her whole mission in life to pour out her blessings on us, and we as grateful children, can do no less than hold up and strengthen her hands, thus emulating the example of her friends outside, who have of late showered her with gifts in so splendid and thoughtful a fashion.

Wandering through Europe during the last six months I have again been deeply impressed by the wonderful beauty of the Gothic cathedrals, their noble architecture, their windows of splendid colored glass, their numberless memorials to men and women of all degrees for public services and private virtues, to children, to rich harvests, to plagues, to victories; and I have again been filled with awe and with admiration of their builders.

The architects and rulers planned, the stone cutters and masons wrought, the peasants put in their pennies, the old guilds of workmen and of tradestolks, the kings, the bishops, the gentry-all bore a hand, and the cathedrals arose.

This fine idea running through them all struck me forcibly, namely, the great house of meeting built by many men for all men, where they together might sing praises to God and join with each other in friendly intercourse and mutual help.

The same idea presents itself to us of this century also in the shape of schools and colleges founded and carried on by the many for all-a true democracy.

Some Harvard graduates conceived a meeting-house for Harvard students, joined heads and hands, and the house is here-a house open to all Harvard men without restriction and in which they all stand equal-a house bearing no name forever except that of our University.